Sign the Petition to

Secretary of State John Kerry, President Obama

The Lakota Oyate (Great Sioux Nation), as the ancient guardians of the Northern Plains, along with all of our allies in the United States and Canada, members of the Red Nations of the western hemisphere and Indigenous peoples of the world, urge you to deny the permit application for the Keystone XL Pipeline. The pipeline has the potential to destroy sacred land and water. Mr. Secretary, we urge you to make this critical stand and appeal to you as the father of Alexandra and Vanessa and the step-father to John, Andre and Christopher. We ask you to stand with us and reject this attack on mother earth. This is a unique opportunity for you and the President to make a positive decision on behalf of future generations, leaving a legacy of wisdom and foresight. As Marie Randall, a 94-year-old Lakota great-grandmother stated,

“This is the land of our ancestors. We protect it for our grandchildren.”

Signed,

Owe Aku International

This petition closed 9 months ago

How this will help

Debra White Plume is a Lakota mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Fighting against corporate interests and greed, she is leading a grassroots battle to block the Keystone XL Pipeline from...

Debra White Plume is a Lakota mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Fighting against corporate interests and greed, she is leading a grassroots battle to block the Keystone XL Pipeline from crossing her community's sacred land. Quoted Debra, "Through the long, hot summer we will provide requested non-violent direct action training to Lakota Homelands. We will join our counterparts of ranchers and farmers who will face TransCanada's earthmovers when they come to dig, using the human right to engage in nonviolent direct action. We hope the president will realize the large and diverse national support to deny the permit, that he will be revolutionary and refuse to expose the big land to such a toxic project."

"It boils down to personal responsibility. We must see the truth or else continue to live in the many levels of denial that we all construct and make excuses for what the industry is doing with our support as inactive human beings. People need to have courage and take the stand that this fossil fuel industry and the tar sands mine is wrong and work to shut it down before it is too late."

Debra's home is along the banks of Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Her work and relentless drive to build alliances to protect sacred water and land from the immediate devastation that will be caused by the Keystone XL Pipeline, is not like any battle they've faced before. It is an issue that threatens the health and sustainability of her family and friends. She is appealing to John Kerry's humanity as a father since he has two daughters and three step-sons (Alexandra, Vanessa, John, Andre and Christopher). If Mr. Kerry fails to block the pipeline, history will remember his betrayal of all of us and future generations. His responsibility should be the same as our Native leaders: "We must protect our communities, children, water, for the future." [1]

While Debra and families across the midwest fight the battle on the ground to block the KXL, they need your support on this petition to pressure John Kerry into denying the permit for the pipeline. Sadly, these "fat takers" (corporations and politicians), as they are known in Lakota, who are pushing for the pipeline, do not have the wisdom to think beyond their own greed and narrow needs. We need to let them know that our voice is our power!

Sources:[1] [Robin LeBeau, Tribal Council Representative from the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.]

More information:For more information on opposition to the Keystone XL Pipeline, the efforts of Owe Aku or to donate to our ever-expanding outreach and building of alliances, please visit www.oweakuinternational.org.